Method and apparatus for avoiding shock chill in precipitating substances from liquids



oct. 27, 1925. 1,558,619

L. D. JONES METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AVOIDING SHOCK `CHILL IN PRECIPITATIiG SUBSTANCES FROM LIQUIDS .Filed Feb. 5, 1921 ISv Paas-ted oi;`19zs.

UNITED STA'QI'` V1,558,619 ESP A'riizN'rv 4lOFI-lola LEO n. JONES, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIoNon rc '.riIEv SHAEPLES SPECIALTY coHPANY, oi;l PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A coaPoaArIoN or DELAWARE.

mon 'AND APPARATUS Pon. AvoIDINe s'rANcEs Piton LIQUIDS'.

Application tiled February 5, 1921. Serial' No. 442,691.

To all whom t may concern.' Be it known that I, LEO D. JONES, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residin in the city of Philadelphia, county of Phila elphia, and State 0f Pennsylvania, have invented 'a new 'and useful Method and Apparatus for itsuse is contemplated in the treatment of other liquids, as in the separation of stearindL be separated centrif from vegetableoils. y y

My improvements are 4characterized,l in the preferred practice of the invention by effecting heat transfer, ,between a cooling medium and the liquid containing the substance to be precipitated bycooling, in such a way, that every particle .of the liquid shall be gradually reduced in temperature sub-V stantially uniformly, and 'also that no portion of the li uid shall come in contact with `Va cooling me ium or surface having-a temperature differing therefrom by more than a small fractin ofthe total temperature ran e through which the liquid 1s to chil edQ-"Phe precipitate thus obtained is separated.4 out by centrifugal force.)

In chilling liquids as heretofore pr cticed, Iwhether lloy direct action as by boiling liquid 'ammonia in circulating coils in contact with the liquid to be coole or indirectlT das by cinculating refrigerated calcium or sodium chloride brine throu h custonary to contro the temperature of the chilling media so that this temperature was always appreciably lower than the lowest temperature to which the liquid to be chilled was. carried. Thus, if the process required the chilling of an oil 'to 20 F., it was customar 'l to circulate thru the system and thru t the. oil', brine ata temperature of approximatel 10 F. If Slow chillings were require ,`this was accomplished y limiting the amount of 10 brineilowing thru the chilling coils. small portionsjof the (liquid tobe chille were chilled rapidly to the lowest required temperature.

such coils, it has been e chilling pipe coils 'in/contact 'witllf In this method of chilling SHOCK CHILL IN PRECIPITATINGUB- In theprecipitation of substances in li uids byk chilling, as in the precipitation o the wax of petroleum products such as cylinder stock, the physical condition of the precipi- -tate hasbeen found in my experiments to ,vary with, the character of the chillin operations.- Where the oil or part the 0% is chilled rapidl 'by a transfer of its heat tto a cooling flui or surface of much lower empera ure, as vprevious o rations known to the tradhad referred Edin the claims asf shock chilling, `the wax is precipitated in a finely divided orcolloidal state with the occlusion'of oil which cannot ugally. But whenYtlie ,oil is reduced uniform y to the' temperature 'required for producing a satisfactory finishedv product, without reducing any substantia part of it at any time substantially b"elow the temperature of the bulk of the oil, by l eat transfer to a coolin medium the tempera ure of 4which is suc that at ally Bossu-ED. l

ture range thru which the oil is being chilled,

as in my invention, the wax is'precipitated in a more coarsely .crystalline and less colbe loidal state, containing much lessfoccluded oil and in such form that it can be separated l readily bycentrifugalv force.

The invention may be practiced by the apparatus illustrated in the accompanying drawing. 4 l

The rawing is a diagrammatic view o a chilling and centrifuging lay out adapted for the practice of the invention. l

The a paratus.illustrated comprises a refrigeration element 1 from which anhydrousliquid ammonia flows througlh the pipe 2 and the expansion valve 3 to t e brine 'coolingltank 4, which is connectedby the return pipe 5 with the element 1. l

y Brine coils 6- 'nthe tank 4 form part of a circulating'conduit comprising thepipe 7 contaf a relief valve 8a tank 9, a pipe '10, a puin A 11 and a'pipe 12,'the pump cirthe. store of to eii'ect convection currents for' preventing subsidence ofthe precipitate and assist agi-v tation.. The coils 14 form part of a circulatingconduit comprising the pipe 15, the pump 16 and the pipe 17 through which the cooling fluid is circulated by the pump.

A pipe 18, containing a valve 19, connects the pipe 7 with the pipe 15, and the latter is connected by a pipe 20 containing a valve 2.1 with the tank 9. r

A conduit 22 connects the tank 13 with a centrifugal separator 23 which .discharges through the outlets 23 and 23".

Ammonia passes thenN through the pipe 2, valve 3, tank 4 and pipe 5, and is boiled in this tank by heat transferred from brine circulated'in the coils 6, the brine being.

forced from the tank 9 through the conduits 10, 1 2, 6 and 7, by the pump 1,1.

If the same brine is circulated continuously through pump.16, pipe 17, coils 14, and pipe 15, the brine in this system will have substantially the -samel temperature as that of the oil in the tank 13. In order to chill the oil in the tank 13, a small portion of cold brine from the tank 6 is admitted to this circulating system through the pipes 7 and'18 and the valve- 19. This small portion of cold-brine mixes with a larger portion of warm brine flowing from the coil 14 thru the pipe 15,resulting in a slight reduction of the temperature of the brine entering the coil through the pipe 17. A quantity of brine passes out thru/the valve `21 equal to that entered thru' the valve 19. B the regulationxof the valve 19 it' is possi le to con-V trol the temperature of the brine circulating thru the coil 14 at a certain specified temperature relation to that of the oil in the tank 13, substantially independent of the temper ature of the colder brine supplied thru thevalve 19. For instance, it is possible to have the voil in tank 13, at say, 70019., andthe brine circulating thru the coil'14 at substantially 60 E., whereas the supply of refrigerat1o\n\in the form of brine passing thru the valve 19 may be at -20F.

The amount of surface ofthe coil 14 and the capacity of the pump 16 are to be so arranged difference etween the oil and the brine entering the tank and between the oil and the brine leaving `the tank shall be approx-imately,` the same or not widely different, and so that the'temperature-.difference between t-he oil and the average temperature 0f the brine in the coil 14 shall ,not be more than a small fraction of the total temperature thru which the oil is chilled when the oil in the tank 13 is being chilled at ansatisfactory rate.

The oil, when chilled as above described, io a temperatue which will give 'a satisfactory finished product,-is discharged from the tank 13 through the pipe 22to the separator 23 in which it is centrifuged, the oil and the preferably that .the /temperature' wax separatedv therefrom by centrifugal force being discharged through the respective outlets 23 and 23".

`In practice, the temperature of the brine clrculated through the coils 14 is preferably not more than say 10 F. lower than the temperature of the oil in the tank, the telnperature of the brine circulated in the'coils being loweredas the temperature of the oil 48 hours to a temperature of sav 10 F.

by a transfer of heat through the coilsl4, to brine therein having a temperature that is regulated so that it is preferably not moreO than F. lower than the oil, the temperature of the brine being lowered relatively as the temperature of the oil falls.

Having described my invention, I claim 1.-The method of treating liquid containing a subst-ance precipitable by cooling which comprises forming a' discontinuous precipitate of said substance in the liquid by reducing the temperature thereof at a substantially constant rate' by heat absorption in refrigerant cooled at a ratebearing a substantially constant relation to changes in the temperature of the iquid.

2. The method of treating liquid containing a substane precipit ble by cooling which comprises the ab orpt'ion ofr heat therefrom in a refrigerant maintained at a temperature insuflicient'for shock chilling the liquid cooled-thereby andnever differing` in temperature from such liquid by more than a small fraction of the tota-l temperature range through which the liquid is chilled.

3; The method of treating oill containing a waxy substance whichl comprises forming a discontinuous waxy precipitate therein by heat absorption therefrom in a refrigerant. having a temperature maintained at a pointl incapable of effecting shock chilling7 of oil cooled thereby, and disper'sing the precipitate bythe formation of currents in the oil.

4. The method of treating wax-containing oil .which comprises the absorption of heat therefrom in a refrigerant never differing in temperature from the oil by more than a smallfraction of the total temperature range through which the oil iselrilled, and maintaining such refrigerant at a temperature bearing a substantially constant relation to the temperature of the oil by mixing small quantities of cold refrigerant with the first named refrigerant.

5. In apparatus for cooling liquids, a liquid reservoir, a refrigerant circulating system for cooling liquid in said reservoir,

a second refrigerant circulating system supplying refrigerant to said first system,` and means comprising connections'and controls between said systems for circulating refrigerant from eachv of said systems tlgrough the .other -and regulating the temperature ilL said first named system.

6. In apparatus for the precipitation of wax from oils, an oil reservoir, an agitator for agitating oil in said reservoir, a refrigerant circulating system for cooling oil in said reservoir, a second refrigerant circulating system comprising a refrigerant cooler and a tank, means connecting said first named system with said second named system between said cooler and tank, and means connecting said rst named'system with said tank. v

`In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my name this third day of February,` 1921.

LEO n.. JONES. 

